Calgary family caught in crossfire amid multiple shootings
Posted Feb 15, 2023 6:25 am.
Last Updated Feb 16, 2023 8:57 am.
A man and his family say they are “lucky” after he slept through gunfire that rang through their house in northeast Calgary early Wednesday morning.
The shooting was one of two that happened in the Temple and Penbrooke Meadows areas roughly 30 minutes apart.
The first one happened on Temple Drive around 2:40 a.m., with the second one on 5 Avenue SE near 52 Street at 3:15 a.m.
When emergency crews arrived on scene at the first shooting, they found one man injured.
Calgary police say the man was taken to hospital in serious condition.
Neighbour Elijah Quemada says Calgary police officers ended up having to wake his family up after the shooting, at around 4 a.m., with his wife and mother-in-law saying they heard “fireworks.”
“My partner told me there was like a loud bang. And then she thought that somebody upstairs … might have just dropped something,” Quemada told CityNews.
“And a few hours after that … we got police coming in the house and making sure everybody was okay. Nobody got hurt. Even the upstairs tenants. Nobody got hurt.”
Bullet holes were shot through the front window and basement windows, and Quemada says his car also has bullet holes.
Elijah Quemada holds a curtain with a bullethole in his home in the Temple area in Calgary on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023. (Logan Stein, CityNews photo)
A bullet hole on the front window of a home in Temple in Calgary on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023. (Logan Stein, CityNews photo)
He and his family have lived in the area for about a year, and he says the whole thing felt like he was dreaming.
“‘What’s happening why is there a uniformed officer in my room right now?'” he recalled. “I kind of just stood up, washed my face, and then tried to absorb it and started to collect myself.”
Quemada says the landlord is going to take care of any costs and insurance.
“I’m just thankful everybody’s safe.”
Meanwhile, a victim of the second shooting was found on the street, and they were taken to hospital in non-life-threatening condition.
Officers say there is no word on any suspects at this point.
Read More: Calgary police investigating two early morning shootings
In addition, investigators believe there is no connection between the shootings at this point.
Calgary police vehicle at the scene of a shooting on Temple Drive in northeast Calgary on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023. (Logan Stein, CityNews)
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-With files from Kenny Mason
